Productivity Pointers

Seven Tips To Help You Overcome Procrastination

Kathy Paauw, Organizing Coach

  1. Break larger projects into manageable "bites" and create a timeline for yourself to accomplish these smaller tasks
  2. Remember that each project expands to the time allotted to it, so set a limit for yourself: I am going to return all my phone calls in an hour. I will file papers for 30 minutes. Set a timer. You will be amazed how much you can get done when you focus your time.
  3. Eat a FROG first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. Tackle that "toad" -- the task you have been putting off, the one that is hanging over your head -- because it will lift an immense load and you will feel much more productive.
  4. Relieve yourself of the stress caused by all of the clutter in your home and office by setting up some systems to manage the paper in your life. A good filing system and a tickler file system are essential elements.
  5. Make a weekly appointment with yourself to plan your coming week. During your planning session, schedule important activities and tasks so you have a concrete plan for following through with your intentions.
  6. Make appointments with yourself to get administrative work done, such as paying bills or catching up with your reading. Treat this time as you would an appointment with someone else.
  7. Take 15 minutes at the end of each day to put things away and look at the calendar for the next day. Gather what you need ahead of time so you will be prepared for tomorrow.

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